WB: Reforms to make Phl next Asian miracle
Under fire for his stimulus program, President uino recei ed praise yesterday for his reform agenda from the head of the orld an roup, who said the Philippines is on trac to be the ne t “ sian miracle.”
orld an President im ong im came out strongly against the “cancer of corruption” and cited “cutting edge” reforms in go ernance in the Philip pines that he said the and the rest of the world could learn from.
im said the uino administration “is doing better to tac le corruption than any go ernment in the world.”
“ he cutting edge of go ernance reform is, in many ways, being rolled up right here in the Philip pines,” im said.
e said it was less than 20 years ago when then
WB president James Wolfensohn helped ignite a global movement for transparency in governance, when he spoke against this cancer of corruption cheating people of their fair share of economic growth.
“Since president Wolfensohn’s wake-up call, many countries have made progress in strengthening governance and curbing corruption. The Philippines has achieved notable gains,” Kim said during the “Daylight Dialogue: The Good Governance Challenge” held at the Rizal Hall of Malacañang yesterday.
Kim said President Aquino should take much of the credit for the turnaround, highlighting his anti-corruption campaign, efforts to build transparency in government and focus on “inclusive growth.”
“Can the Philippines be the next Asian miracle? (After) coming here, I think there is no question that is the case,” Kim told the gathering.
Even the WB was committed to uphold integrity and one of the difficult parts of working with the WB group, according to Kim, was “that we have a very well-developed integrity function” – the inspection panel on the private sector side and the Office of the Ombudsman on the public side.
“And so, we have learned a lot about how to... follow and investigate corruption and we are very happy to share those lessons here. And I think that we’re seeing a fundamental sea change in the way people think about safeguards and anti-corruption activities because what happens is that at first... we were accused of just being too slow. All these environmental safeguards... safeguards for indigenous people, the anti-corruption, it’s just too slow,” Kim said.
Kim said President Aquino placed good governance at the heart of his political agenda to end poverty but noted it was not always easy.
He said no country was immune from governance abuses and it was important to set clear goals, refine and improve work as “public expectations evolve.”
Some practices that represent the cutting edge of governance reform, according to Kim, are happening in the Philippines.
“Around the world, the spread of information technology is converging with grassroots movements for transparency, accountability and citizen empowerment.
“Under your leadership, President Aquino, the Philippines is absolutely at the forefront of this transformation,” Kim said.
Kim said the Philippines, where one quarter of the roughly 100 million people live in deep poverty, had huge potential. He cited its strong macroeconomic fundamentals, prudent monetary policies and young workforce.
He said the WB expected the Philippines’ economy would expand by 6.6 percent this year, maintaining its status as one of the fastest growing in Asia.
The economy grew by 7.2 percent last year, second only to China.
Under Aquino’s leadership, Kim said the Philippines was absolutely in the forefront of this transformation.
He cited the government under Aquino doubled budgets for social services and made performance informed budgeting the norm.
“Citizens increasingly see your conditional cash transfer program ‘Pantawid Pamilya’ as an instrument to realize the rights to education and health care. Your administration has also streamlined business regulations, bringing down the cost of doing business and reducing opportunities for corruption,” Kim said.
“Your Open Data initiative has reinforced accountability at all levels of government. For instance, the Philippines is now using electronic procurement technology to encourage citizens to be observers in all stages of the bidding process; and just recently, started the use of geo-tagging. Similar tools are now being used to monitor assistance for people affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda,” he said.